Welcome to Year 2

In Year 2 we will be following on from the learning in Foundation 2 and Year 1 ensuring that we still follow children’s interests embedded into the New National Curriculum. In class, children will complete lessons on all the core subjects in the morning followed by foundation subjects in the afternoons. Year 2 pupils will also have the opportunity to complete challenges following their interests and the new National Curriculum in our different areas of provision. Please keep coming to look at our class page so you can see what we are learning in class and celebrate with us!

Miss Costello

Class Teacher

Mrs Duggan

Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)

Y2 Class Worship

Y2 Curriculum Newsletters

Find out what we are learning about each half term by reading the newsletters:

Spring Term 2 2018

RE Spring 2

The Mass

This topic is designed to develop the children’s knowledge and understanding of the celebration of the Mass. With this in mind Year 2 visited St.Joseph’s church where Canon Nunan explained all about what happens at the Offertory and that the bread and wine are changed into Jesus. The children really enjoyed learning about different signs and symbols in church too.

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English Spring 2

World Book day

We had such a fantastic day in school to celebrate world book day. The children really enjoyed showing their costumes to each other.

The Leopard’s Drum

We have been reading enjoying reading The Leopard’s Drum, which tells the story of Osebo,the leopard who has a magnificent drum but won’t share it with any of the other animals in the forest. Until one day along comes tortoise and cleverly tricks him. We retold this story by drawing story maps and then wrote our own versions of The Leopard’s Drum based on another animal.

We also made our own hand puppets of characters in our stories by sewing.

Maths Spring 1

We practise our KIRF targets daily. This half term is to find, name and write fractions of a shape, set of objects or amount: 1/3, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4.

Show and Share

We held our show and share where parents/carers came in to work alongside their children. The learning was based on Year 2’s current KIRF targets on fractions.

The mornings were a huge, enjoyable success with lots of top tips given as to how to support your child at home with their learning. A big thank you to everyone who could attend. Your support is greatly welcomed!

Topic Spring 2

We enjoyed using atlases to find and name the world’s seven continents and five oceans. Which ones can you name?

Well Being Week

St.Joseph’s launched well being week with a whole school assembly to explain the importance of Growth Mindset. This taught the children to embrace new challenges and learn from their mistakes.

The children worked in teams to organise statements into growth mindset and fixed mindset.

Someone who has a fixed mindset might say;

I can’t do this!

This work is too tricky.

I’m stuck so I’m giving up.

What’s the point in trying I couldn’t do it yesterday so I can’t do it today.

She’s so clever. I’ll never be that clever.

In Year 2 we are working really hard to stretch our brains! We love being challenged and are trying really hard not to give up when we find things tricky.

We are using phrases like;

I can’t do it…….yet!!

This is tricky but I’m not going to give up.

I love being challenged.

I can learn from my mistakes.

Yoga

As part of well being week Year 2 had a great yoga session. We learned different poses and how breathing deeply can help us to relax.

PE Spring 2

Year 2 have been practising throwing and catching with different equipment. They have also been practising doing this whilst balancing on one leg!

Spring Term 1 2018

Welcome back and happy New Year! This half term our new topic is Explorers and we will be linking this to our science topic on animal habitats. Year 2 will be going to Tropical World to enhance their learning and understanding.

RE Spring 1

The Good News

The children have been introduced to the concept of good news. This topic is designed to develop the children’s knowledge and understanding of the joy that Jesus brings and to reflect on how we can bring joy to others. We have been reading different bible stories and using role play to help us understand that Jesus brings the good news of God’s love through his miracles and so turns sadness into joy.

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English Spring 1

Reading area

We are enjoying our new resources in our reading area. The children enjoy relaxing in this calming space.

Meerkat Mail

We have been reading enjoying reading Meerkat Mail, which tells the story of Sunny who leaves his family in the Kalahari desert to visit relatives around the world. The children imagined what Sunny would do if he visited Wetherby and wrote postcards to send to Sunny’s family.

We planned what Sunny would do if he visited St.Joseph’s, the children used puppets to imagine what Sunny would do for fun, what he would eat and where he go. Mrs Gee even promised that she would cook his favourite scorpion pizza!

The children worked in teams to read facts about Meerkats. They then had to group them under the different subheadings; habitat, diet, appearance and interesting facts. There was some very tricky words to read so the children used their phonics to say the sounds then read the words.

Maths Spring 1

We are practising daily our class KIRFs targets. This half term is recall multiplication facts in the 2x’s, 3x’s, 4x’s, 5x’s and 10x’s tables and their corresponding division facts.

We have been looking at solving multiplication and division calculations and problems. We made human number sentences to help us solve these problems and practised writing them with our talk partners. We used resources in our classroom to help us solve the problems practically.

Science Spring 1

This half term we are learning all about animal habitats. We began with discussing how we know something is living, non living and dead. Working in teams we sorted pictures under these headings and added them to our Science working wall.

We used IPADS to research about Meerkats habitats. We found out that they live in burrows underground in the deserts and grasslands of the southern tip of Africa. Did you know that a group of Meerkats are called a mob, clan or gang? Living underground keeps the mob members safe from predators and out of the harsh African heat.

Tropical World Trip

Year 2 had a fantastic time when they visited Tropical World. We got to see lots of different amazing birds, animals and fish in their different environments. The Meerkat enclosure was a big favourite with lots of children wishing they could keep them as pets! In the afternoon we had a workshop to learn about Roundhay Park woods as a local habitat. The children had to work in teams to complete a fun woodland scavenge hunt. Then they had to choose a tree, name it and work out how old it is by measuring it. The tape measure didn’t go all the way around the tree so they had to solve and discuss what to do. Next they had estimate the height of it using a metre ruler. Finally we learnt even more amazing facts about some of the animals we saw in Tropical World. Lucia even got to dress up as a Meerkat! Year 2 were such fantastic listeners all day and their superb behaviour was acknowledged by the staff at Tropical World. A special thank you to Mrs Jensen, Mrs O’Connor and Mrs Haveron for helping out on the day too.

PE

Judo Taster Session

Year 2 had such a great time when Glynn ‘Wee Man’, a judo teacher, delivered a 30 minute taster session to the whole class. It was very fast paced and the children had to have their best listening ears to follow instructions. They learnt so much during this session whilst having lots of fun

Autumn Term 2 2017

Welcome back to all the children in Year 2! This half term the children are eager to learn all about their new topic on Space which has been linked with ‘Robot Week’ again. With Christmas approaching us quickly too we will be rehearsing for our nativity ‘Hosanna Rock.’

RE Autumn 2

During the first week back we had a mass in school for ‘All Souls’ Day’. In class we wrote our own prayers to think about this and hung them on our collective worship table.

In our collective worship we discussed the importance of Remembrance Day and the symbolism of the red poppy.

Our topic this half term is ‘Mysteries’. We started our new topic with thinking about the differences between a puzzle and a mystery. We then wrote our own questions about what we wonder. What do you wonder about?

Y2 R.E learning journey and working wall

We looked at the symbol of the Trinity and discussed what this means. The word Trinity means 3 in 1 ( Tri-unity) and represents one God being the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit. We drew our own symbols.

Take a look at our collective worship table. We now have a purple cloth covering it to signify the start of advent. We also have our advent wreath on it.

We were very excited to receive a brightly coloured present with a huge bow on that we unwrapped eagerly! Inside we found baby Jesus lying in manger. We took it in turns to hold him and discussed that Jesus is God’s gift to the world.

We had so much fun making our Christmas cards!

English Autumn 2

Reading area

We are very lucky to have given £300 to help transform our much loved reading area. The children came up with some wonderful and exciting ideas to make it their own. Keep an eye out for a treasure island/ detectives theme coming soon!

Space

We have been reading lots of information books about space and looking in particular at the famous astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was the first man to walk on the moon. We wrote fact files about him and looked at using subheadings to write our information under. We are loving having a space station in our classroom to help enhance our writing! Did you know that Neil Armstrong’s footsteps can still be seen on the moon’s surface? Ask your child why?

“That’s one small step for man one giant leap for man kind.”

Neil Armstrong’s footprint can still be seen on the moon.

Neil Armstrong

Our writing area

Our space pod.

Y2 English working wall.

Maths Autumn 2

We are practising daily our class KIRFs targets. This half term is to use addition and subtraction facts to 20 quickly and work out similar facts to 100.

We have been looking at solving addition and subtraction calculations and problems. We are being resourceful learners and deciding what equipment we need to help us with our learning.

‘Noah saw 12 legs walk into the ark. How many creatures could he have seen? How many different answers can you find out? Explain how you found this out.’

Science Autumn 2

This half term we are thinking about how we can look keep our bodies healthy. We spoke about the importance of eating a balanced diet and created our own healthy dinner menus. We also linked this in with our topic on space and read ‘Bob man on the moon’ who keeps fit whilst he’s on the moon by exercising regularly.

Y2 Science learning journey and working wall

We learnt so much about how to look after our teeth and gums when we were visited by trainee dentists from Leeds University. Did you know that you should brush your teeth for 2 minutes? We learnt how to brush our teeth properly, what causes tooth decay and the types of food that contain lots of sugar. We had lots of fun role playing being dentists!

Topic Autumn 2 Space

We had a ‘Robot focus week’ in school and Year 2 were so excited to meet Robi the Robot. We wrote questions we wanted to ask him first.

“Do you do any exercise?” Jessica.

“Do you have a family?” Lucia.

“Can you do back flips?”Ruari

We enjoyed asking Robi questions, he even told us a story! We found out Robi enjoys doing Tai Chi to keep his mind and body healthy.

Art/DT

In English we wrote all about what Moon Buggies are and why astronauts use them We then designed our own planning carefully what they needed to have. We found out Moon buggies have 4 wheels, 2 seats, a steering handle instead of a steering wheel, a camera and space for the astronaut to collect moon rocks. They enable the astronaut to explore the moon quicker than they would by walking because of their bulky spacesuits.

We used an egg box for the main part of the moon buggy and then attached the wheels onto a wooden dowel. We painted the egg box and used tinfoil, plastic boxes, card and lollypop sticks to create them. We had so much fun designing and making them!

We then evaluated our moon buggies thinking about what we liked about them and what we would do to improve them if we made them again.

Take a look at what we made.

Autumn Term 1 2017

Welcome back to all the children in Year 2! I hope you all had a fantastic summer holiday. Thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome at St.Josephs. I’m very happy to be your new class teacher and have lots of super learning planned for you around our topic ‘Home Sweet Home.’

Year 2 have been settling into their new classroom, routines and getting to know myself and Mrs Duggan. During the first week we discussed what makes a safe, happy and fun learning environment to help us establish what our class ‘Golden Rules’ should be. We are working hard to make good choices so that we are following our rules. As a reward for filling our class jar with gems the children have decided that they want a ‘pyjama day’ and to bring in their favourite teddies too. The children also write their names on a raffle ticket each time they they have earned a gem. Every week one name will be chosen to take home ‘Leo the Lion’ for the week. He is very excited to find out what he is going to do and learn with you!

RE

Take a look at our class collective worship table. Each week we have a new theme which we reflect upon during our whole school and class collective worships.

Our topic this half term is ‘Chosen People’. We have been thinking about what makes each of us special and how we can help others.

English

Take a look at Year 2’s reading area. We are enjoying being able to relax and read in this space.

We are currently reading ‘The Minpins’ by Roald Dahl which tells the story of a young boy called Billy who longs to go and explore secret woods nearby his home, however his Mum forbids him. She tells him of the Whangdoodle, Hornswogglers, Snozzwanglers and Vermicious knids that live in the forest. Worst of all is the Terrible Bloodsucking Toothplucking Stonechuckling Spittler, who chases his prey while glowing clouds of hot smoke pour out of his nose, and then swallows them up in one gulp. However Little Billy doesn’t believe his mother.

We acted out being Little Billy and making the decision whether or not to go into the woods. We pretended we were whispering trees that gave Billy advice. Interestingly the majority of Year 2 decided they wouldn’t listen to Billy’s mother and wanted to go on an adventure to explore the woods.

Science

Our topic this half term is materials. Year 2 enjoyed working with their talk partners to discuss what they already knew about materials and what questions they would like to find out.

Have a look at our Science area where we have been challenging ourselves to identify the materials and sort them.

Computing

Year 2 will be developing the skills of logging on to the computers independently to practise the basic skills of typing, adding text, formatting text and saving their learning.

Phonic and Reading Programmes

In Key Stage 1 we follow the Letters and Sounds programme for Phonics. In Year 1, children study Phase 5 from the programme. Pupils learn to read and write many different sounds and apply these sounds in longer pieces of work. Children will also learn alternative sounds, new sounds and High Frequency words. In Year 2, pupils consolidate their learning of Phase 5 and they also complete the support for spelling programme learning new spelling rules and applying the rules in their writing. Children will learn many different spellings and will continue to write at length in various subjects.